So this is my first time doing a lam job with patches. Now, before any of you say “why didn’t you just paint it” I’ll just go ahead and say, “What would be the fun in that?” - I know it’s a simple color scheme aside from the deck, but I like working with pigments and fiberglass - so I did patches.
That said - I now have a board that is essentially 4 separate pieces of fiberglass. I know I’ll need to reenforce the seams where I made my cuts and the different color cloths meet, but I don’t want to add too much weight to the board since its a wakesurfer and every ounce counts. I’m placing my logos in the white stripe on the bottom, so I was thinking I could just go one large patch to cover the logo as well as the seams, but that seems like a ton of cloth and I’d rather use something lighter to encapsulate my logos than 4oz glass. If it matters, I’m working with epoxy
So, my question is this: Can I get away with using 4oz tape to close the seams and get back some strength, or am I better off using one large piece of glass to cover both seams on the bottom?
As for the top, it’s going to get one more full 4oz lam now that the pigment patch has cured, so that will cover the rail seams. It’s really just the bottom where the “v” cuts are that I’m worried about
Yeah, I know my shitty tape leaked like a sieve, but I’m doing a patina on the solid colors anyway so I’m not worried
I know I’m maybe being a bit eccentric about it haha - and you’re right it wouldn’t add that much, so it’s actually a good option. I’m just more curious how you guys would do it since I’m just figuring it out as I go with the patches. I was actually thinking 2 or 3 oz would be perfect but I wasn’t sure if that would be strong enough.
I know the strength comes from the stringer and I’m maybe being ridiculous, but I don’t know how badly these cuts compromise the strength of the board. For some reason in my head I have this mental image of the board splitting in three along the cuts while he’s surfing it haha.
So I guess the real question I need to be asking is this: What am I trying to accomplish when I cover the seams? Do I need to get structural integrity that was lost by making the cuts and having separate pieces of glass as the lam, or am I just trying to seal them off to keep the sanding/hotcoats from cracking and leaking?
OK, since no one else has answered, I’ll take the bait: With those kinds of questions in mind, just add a layer of 4 oz. and quit worrying. If your second layer on top wrapped the rails, you have my permission to cut the 2nd bottom layer at the rail lap line (don’t have to wrap the rails from the bottom if you did from the top).
Thanks - I figured I was being a bit ridiculous about worrying, I’ve just got a lot of experience with cutting fancy lines into the grip tape on a skateboard and having the board later snap right on one of the razor lines. I thought if the wood skate decks would break… yeah, silly I know
You should ask George Gall in his thread, while he’s here. For a real answer, haha. But me, backyarder that I am, I would just add a layer of 4 oz. and carry on. Maybe next time try a foam stain pre-glass.
We all learn lessons each time we do something new. In this case, hopefully you realized there is no reason to break this type of color job into 3 pieces of fiberglass, or to try to tape-off laminated glass. You can’t get a clean line taping off laminated glass, since the resin will just leak through the bumps in the glass, no matter how good your tape. So knowing that you can’t get clean lines with color blocks, don’t cut the glass or tape off boudaries. Just mix three batches of the colors and do the best you can with the “arty” boundaries between colors. If you want clean lines between colors, you need to spray or foam stain (taping) or if you are hell bent on colored resin, you could do color panels on a sanded hot coat (taped off), but that’s getting heavy.
I used a similar process to get a clean break on the purple tinted resin - I masked off, and cut my glass. But I typically use multiple layers on my deck, so no biggie.
Yeah I knew the tape would bleed over the glass and knew I’d have to pinline if I wanted clean colors, but damn, I didn’t realize how much. Good thing I’m doing the patina or I’d be pissed… I did the cuts since this is kinda a “football jersey” style and I wanted symetry more than anything…
I’ve seen some guys use what looks kinda like a thinner masonite template material laid across the glass as a “mask” when they do multi-tone glass jobs - anyone here ever try that? I’m curious exactly what material should be used and how much practice it takes to get a clean line with that method - I haven’t done stains yet, I just love the way the color looks attached to the cloth rather than the foam, where you can see the weave in the color.
